Child labour in Bangladesh
[2] Child labour can be found in agriculture, poultry breeding, fish processing, the garment sector and the leather industry, as well as in shoe production.
The Western perspective portrays childhood as a carefree stage of life in which a person does not possess the capacity to be an adult.
Children can be categorised as economically active if they are involved in work outside of school or the home at least one hour once every seven days.
Children are categorised as performing hazardous work if they are involved in activities that may harm their physical, mental, or developmental health or safety.
Its definition also states that child labour is work that leads to deprivation of childhood activities, exploitation and abuse.
[1][failed verification] The International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) defines employment and economically active children as "paid and unpaid work in the formal and nonformal sectors of rural and urban areas".
[7] The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics considers children aged 5–14 who work for one or more hours (per week) in both paid and unpaid settings to be child workers.
[8] There is a strong negative correlation between the income level of a country and the incidence rate of child labour.
[7][12] The prevalence of child labour can be attributed to the socioeconomic statuses of families living at or below the poverty line.
[9] This may be due to the agricultural history of Bangladesh and the tradition of children working alongside adults in the fields.
[7] However, in both rural and urban settings, boys are more likely to work than girls, with the majority of child workers falling in the age range of 12–14.
Organizations such as the ILO, the United Nations, and UNICEF recognise the importance of education in helping to eradicate poverty and in preventing child labour growth rates.
For many families, the income produced by their children is considered more valuable than an education that requires their child to stop working.
[1][11] A study conducted by Rahman (1997) found that around 58% of working children listed economic hardship as the reason they were not attending school.
[7][16] A 2002 and 2003 survey conducted by the World Bank showed that on average teachers in Bangladesh miss one out of five days of work a week.
Domestic child labourers work long hours and subject to harassment, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.
[21] The majority of children working as domestic workers are employed seven days a week and live in the home they serve.
[1] They endure harsh working conditions that cause psychological stress, physical strain, and health issues with little pay or compensation in the form of food, clothing, and shelter.
[19] Other informal industries with large child labour activity (age below 18) include ship breaking and recycling operations, production of soap, matches, bricks, cigarettes, footwear, furniture, glass, jute, leather, textiles, restaurants, garbage picking and trash hunting, vending, begging, portering, and van pulling.
These exposures to safety hazards can lead to various health issues ranging from cuts and bruises to musculoskeletal disorders.
[25] This act allowed for children aged 15 or up to work in the railway industry and in transporting goods in port jobs.
[6] The Constitution of Bangladesh while guaranteeing the fundamental rights for the people prohibits all forms of forced labor under Article 34.
Article 34 lays down that 'all forms of forced labor are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offense punishable in accordance with law'.
Section 4 of this Act provides that notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force every person shall be deemed to be a child who is below the age of 18 years.
Children in Bangladesh are engaged in the worst forms of child labor, primarily in dangerous activities in agriculture and domestic service.
Due to the law, many kids took more dangerous jobs in the informal economy, including; prostitution, street hawkers, stone welding, and as maids.
[16][27] BRAC has also been responsible for running schools for non-formal education that were put in place to teach children fired from jobs.
[6] In addition to the work of the government, BRAC, and ILO, there have been a number of contributions from international organizations and donors to help start strategies against child labour.
These strategies include: taking children out of hazardous work environments and placing them in schooling or training programs, giving families stipends to compensate for loss in wages from a decrease in child labour, and raising awareness of the harmful effects of child labour.
